Help with Targeting Schools - Operations Management and Technology

[vega]

This is essentially a report from a few months back - but didn't really get any response, so I thought I'd repost.

I'm currently looking into Operations Management and Technology based Phd programs, where I'm particularly interested in exploring the impact of new technology and its strategic implementation. The end result would obviously be a professorship. To that end, I was hoping you could evaluate my current profile and suggest schools that would be reasonable targets.

Degrees:
MBA - Chicago Booth, GPA ~3.8
MS - UC Berkeley, Chemical Engineering, GPA ~3.4
BChE - University of Minnesota, Chemical Engineering, GPA ~3.75

GRE: 800Q, 560V (is my verbal score a problem?)

Age at Matriculation: 32

Research experience - 3 years academic science research (science)
Industrial Research experience - 4 years in biotech (title: Sr. Scientist)
Other - Founded my own biotech company - that integrates emerging technologies to help battle cancer.

Publications:
1 patent, 1 journal, 4 international conference posters, 1 international conference as an invited speakers. All publications are in scientific fields.

Awards:
NSF REU fellowship at Harvard University
MOT Fellowship at UC Berkeley
NIH Fellowship at UC Berkeley
O'Brien Fellowship at Chicago Booth

References:
1xStanford Professor (science) who is in the National Academy of Engineering
2xChicago Booth Professors

My questions:
1. What would be good schools to target for Operations Management?
2. I have a strong interest in the technology side of Management, would it potentially be better to target programs like MIT TIES, or Harvard Technology, Science and Management (and similar), or stick with the Operations programs - yes, I realize this is hard to answer, but any insight would be awesome.

[SpottyRecord]

I'm probably not qualified to answer, but I'll do so anyway.

I think your profile is excellent and would be competitive at any program.

I doubt your V on the GRE would be a problem; that said, I think you'd be able to jack that up to 700+ without too much trouble (perhaps take a month to memorize much of the big word lists and go through the old Official Guide verbal tests).

When I took my first GRE powerprep test, I scored 800Q and 620V. Literally every V question I missed was the result of not knowing what words meant. So I took 1-2 months, did a bunch of vocab work, then scored 800V on the actual exam (while self-destructing and scoring 760Q *shakes head in disgust*).

[oldprogrammer]

Your verbal is not a problem. In the operations side of things, math is what matters.

As for deciding which schools to apply to, I would advise you to go through a list of the top 20 business schools (that grant a PhD in Operations Research) and look at each faculty member in their operations department. Read their profile and see if they're working on research similar to your own interests. After you're done, rank the programs based on how many faculty share your interests and how closely they match.

Departmental fit is really professorial fit, so don't look for departments that fit your interests but professors who do.

MIT TIES and Harvard TSM will be extremely difficult to get into. Seems like I've heard that TSM only admits 1-3 students per year, sometimes none.

[vega]

Hey Oldprogrammer - yeah, I'm guessing that both the MIT and HBS programs would be exceedingly hard to get into - that's why I'm seeking out some other programs. Generally speaking, a lot of the feedback on this site is pretty sharp, so I thought I'd opt for the group feedback approach.

For instance, I have no idea what calibur programs I'd be a reasonable fit for - are we talking top 5, top 10, top 20, top 50...where does the stretch begin to start...getting a reasonable idea here would help me to start to look at safety schools, target schools, and stretch schools, and distribute accordingly. I have some ideas of where I would fit, but was hoping to gain an idea if my perspective is reasonable, delusional, or selling myself short. I'm thinking somewhere in the top 20 is reasonable, top 10 mild stretches, and top 5 stretches (as it's frequently a crap shoot, and there are bound to be some people that have a better background).

That said, does anyone know of programs similar to the MIT TIES and the HBS programs that are focused on technology strategy that would be easier to get into than MIT and HBS?

[oldprogrammer]

In the business phd application process, "safeties" are not always safe. These programs are just too small. It seems like one person might conceivably get admitted to a #6 and a #23, while be rejected from a #8 and a #29.

Professorial fit should be at the top for selection criteria. Rather than Operations you might find Strategy or Information Systems (usually combined with Operations) departments to have faculty with a good fit. Or maybe even straight-up Management programs. A lot of the weight in which specialization you pick might also depend on any placement preferences you have and what undergraduate courses you would want to teach.

To phrase it another way, your interests could probably be studied in Operations, Strategy, Management, or even Business Economics.

Depending on how strong those Booth LORs are, and if your statement of purpose is convincing, I think you're a strong candidate to at least a Top 10 or Top 15 program.